. >> i want to talk about chairman benny thompson saying subpoenas are coming soon, laura, this is right up your ally here. liz cheney said they should be issued quickly and the justice department is saying former d.o.j. officials can testify, the department will not assert executive privilege. which top officials will be among the first called? could it be the president should be called or will be called? >> i think -- >> the former president. >> i think he should be called and jeffrey are rosen. what the dorj .o.j. would have assert, is why it's a significant thing, remember, you are saying, in order to have transparency and a full investigation, i have to premove the hurdles and people saying i don't care what uyou want to hear, i don't have to tell you. that hurdle is being over come, saying you can speak freely about what it is that you know about the es. if you know the who, what, when, where, why, the paper trail, if you know something different than what your oath of office should have been or otherwise, lets us know. it's a level of transparency that we need here. >> give me a b

and i think our chairman benny thompson hasn't ruled it out. there's a lot we don't know about what was going on in the white house that day and in the days leading up to the rally and insurrection, were there warnings given to the president and others in the white house about the participation of these right-wing violent extremist groups? did they have forewarning? yes, there's a lot of uncertainties and unanswered questions. i think no one is off the table that has relevant information to share >> chairman adam schiff appreciate your time. thank you. >> coming up next, how close does the president identify with the insurrectionists, hear what he thinks in his own words for the first time, joined by pulitzer prize winning authors who got him to go on record. and why everyone is getting religion on the need to get vaccinated. we'll be right back. here we go. ♪ ♪ so i'd like to know where you got the notion ♪ ♪ to rock the boat don't rock the boat, baby ♪ ♪ rock the boat don't tip the boat over ♪ ♪ rock the boat don't rock the bo

your colleague bennie thompson says that evidence is necessary to produce a report. how are you going to figure out what was said on that call? >> as chairman thompson said, everything is on the table. we really have to dig in deep into all of the events that happened that day. and, you know, i can't say every witness or everything that we will move forward with in the investigation, but we will examine all of the facts and where those facts take us, we will draw from that to come to the conclusions for the committee. >> okay. speaking of witnesses, are you willing to subpoena the former president or people close to him to get answers? >> don, like i said, and like chairman thompson has said, and going into this, everything is on the table. the committee is just now coming together, coming up with a plan, waiting for our additional members. i think we're all here because we took an oath as members of congress, i did, the first time when i was 17, and spent two decades in uniform. we truly think that that oath to protect the constitution against all enemies foreign an

the chairman benny thompson who says the committee will issue subpoenas soon without resorting to writing letters asking for voluntary information says we cannot let the liars and cheaters win. >> we did not ask for this, for the house of representatives did its job to give this country its first peaceful transfer of power. and we'll do our job now to make sure the peaceful transfer of power remains a pillar of our democracy. we cannot allow ourselves to be undone by liars and cheaters. >> liz cheney one of two republicans on the committee says that we need to know the truth about every meeting, every conversation, every phone call leading up to and during the attack. >> we must know what happened here at the capitol. we must also know what happened every minute of that day in the white house. every phone call, every conversation, every meeting leading up to, during and after the attack. honorable men and women have an obligation to step forward. >> you will hear more from liz cheney a little bit later on in this show as well as from other republicans on the committee or the other republi

. >> on the subject of subpoena power, congressman benny thompson has said he would, quote, not resist calling former president trump to testify. do you want to see the former president trump testify, subpoenaed as part of this probe? >> we're, i think, postponing any of those kind of decisions until we're fully staffed up and not just with our staff but our members and we have a chance to discuss the scope of the investigation and our priorities. there'll be plenty of time later to decide on which witnesses are most important and what evidence we need to gather. but at this point we're still just getting squared away. >> kevin mccarthy, also a name i think some people are wondering whether or not he'd be called to testify because of the phone call he had with the president on january 6th. of course you're no stranger to people ignoring subpoenas or not responding subpoenas. what happens then? >> well, we'll cross that bridge, i guess, when we get to it. there are mechanisms that we have to enforce our subpoenas including holding people in contempt and going to court. but as we saw in

democrats are saying -- bennie thompson said, look, they're simply trying to muddy the waters. this is not going to be a committee that is going to independently look at this. it's going to be another washington sort of drag-out fight. being out here in the country, one thing is clear. people are not interested in another food fight in washington regardless of what side you're on. but that is what sounds like is coming down the way. >> quite frankly it's a desperate attempt because it's hard to change the narrative when we have so many images coming out. >> and arrests. >> and none of them mention nancy pelosi except that they don't like her and they stuck their feet up on top of her desk. thank you very much. >>> i want to turn now to "washington post" investigative reporter carol leonnig. so happy to have her here. she's the co-author of the explosive new book "i alone can fix it: donald j. trump's catastrophic final year." again, so good to see you again. thank you so much, carol. listen, there are so many details from your book that we need to discuss. but i want to start w

house committee chairman, bennie thompson, said that subpoenas will be issued, soon. what kind of power does the committee have to, actually, get people to talk? i mean, obviously, you know, as you know well, there was a two-year legal battle, former white house counsel don mcgahn to testify about the russia investigation. >> indeed, anderson. when i was impeachment co-counsel, i helped draft that mcgahn subpoena. um, the -- the house does have the power to compel testimony. when you and i were kids, there was a tv show about the -- the mounties, the canadian mounties. and the motto was they always get their man. well, update that. they always get their man or woman. the same thing with the house of representatives, but it can be delayed through court proceedings. here, i think, it's going to move faster because doj is not going to fight it. >> norm eisen, appreciate it. thanks. we should mention we invited congressman brooks on his program and through his office, he die dee cliented. >>> next, more breaking news. the bipartisan infrastructure bill clears its first, b

bennie thompson, the chair of the committee, has worked with republicans as chair of the homeland security committee. he told me he will work hard to enforce the rules and make sure this committee sticks to their intended goals and that is finding answers as to what happened on january 6. they'll go wherever they need, that could ultimately mean calling someone who is on the committee to come forward as a witness, including jim jordan, kevin mccarthy, or even donald trump. >> and there we go. thank you very much, ryan nobles, i appreciate that. kirstin powers and former republican congressman denver riggleman, good evening to both of you. denver, what do you think of mccarthy's picks for this select committee, are you surprised he actually chose two people who voted to certify the election results? >> i was pleasantly surprised. i think there's a good faith effort with kelly and rodney, i know them very well, they're very good people. i have a feeling kelly's background is legal, recordny has -- rodney has been there a long time. i wasn't surprised about jim jordan being chosen either. it

we'll have opening statements by the chair, bennie thompson. and then, by liz cheney, so that she can articulate the view of a great-many republicans, who are also interested in getting to the truth. and then, we will proceed with the witness testimony. and then, we'll have member questions, which will probably last five to ten minutes, a piece. probably, closer to ten minutes. and those will -- the questions will be interspersed with video. some, that has been seen, before. some that has not been seen, before. but most importantly, these police officers who were on the front lienes, who were beaten, who were sprayed with bear spray, who continue to suffer injuries, some who came close to dying that day, will be able to help tell us what happened and also give content to these video images many people have seen but don't really understand what was going on. >> it is remarkable, when you think about 9/11 and the horrific attack on america and american democracy, that day. um, and the -- the -- the amount of investigation. the amount of attention

bennie thompson, excuse me. she talked, today, about how, in her view, this is bigger than politics. >> um, and a really important opportunity to remind everybody about the necessity of accountability. for what happened. for making sure that it never happens, again. >> accountability. accountability. accountability. that's what all this is supposed to be about. yet, kevin mccarthy, who just days after the attack on -- on the capitol, said that the then-president bore responsibility. now, he is calling liz cheney and adam kinzinger pelosi republicans. kinzinger called that childish. pointed out it was republicans, actually, who killed the independent commission in the senate. listen. >> we had an opportunity for a 5-5 commission that didn't even include members of congress. then, at every junction, it kept getting blocked, despite that we negotiated the 5-5. and so, it's become obvious that there are some that just, simply, don't want answers. and that, to me, is unacceptable. >> people don't want the truth. ther

. >> i want to talk about chairman bennie thompson saying that subpoenas are coming soon, laura. this is right up your alley here. liz cheney said they should be issued quickly. the justice department is saying former doj officials can testify. the department won't assert executive privilege. so which top officials are likely to be among the first called? you think the president should be called or will be called? the former president? >> i think he should be called. i think jeffrey rosen. i think others. remember, the executive privilege in terms of what the doj members would have to assert or be able to no longer have to assert -- so the notion here and why this is such a significant thing is, remember, you're saying in order to have transparency, in order to have a full, holistic investigation, i have to remove the hurdles of people saying, i don't care what you want to hear. i don't have to tell you anything. that does not bode well on the integrity of the department if there's no real basis for it. but also it's a hurdle that now is being overcome by the decision to say, you

bennie thompson, who is the chairman from mississippi, is a serious individual. he's worked with republicans and democrats for a long time in his capacity as chair of the homeland security committee. he told me today that he is going to work hard to enforce the rules and make sure that this committee sticks to their intended goals, and that is finding answers as to what happened on january 6th. and they're going to go wherever they need to find those answers. that could ultimately even mean calling someone who's on the committee, jim jordan, to come forward as a witness. that's a real possibility, including the possibility of kevin mccarthy and maybe even donald trump being called in front of this committee. >> thank you very much, ryan nobles. i appreciate that. joining me now, cnn senior political analyst kirsten powers and former republican congressman denver riggleman. good evening to both of you. so, denver, what do you think of mccarthy's picks for this select committee? are you surprised that he actually chose two people who voted to certify the election r